ABSTRACT
When Sigmund Freud envisages in "Analysis terminable and interminable" (1937c) the factors that are attributable to the modifications of the ego, he admits his perplexity and recognizes that there is much that could be said about it, but remains discreet. This chapter describes a syndrome of psychic desertification (Green, 2002c) to characterize cases where, when one tries to establish the analytic setting with a patient, one finds that he or she is, in fact, unable to tolerate it. The feeling of psychic emptiness, described by Winnicott can involve an experience of non-existence or of futility. Narcissistic fragility is omnipresent: "I'm going away, I am being dragged into the void". Or, still more radically, "I am just a negation", or "My life boils down to a long period of waiting in the void." These are examples of remarks heard by different analysts.
